Field
This disclosure is generally related to wireless networks. More specifically, this disclosure is related to a method and system for facilitating seamless roaming in a wireless network.
Related Art
In recent years, the phenomenal growth of mobile devices, such as smart phones and tablet computers, has resulted in a huge demand in wireless networks. Particularly, Wi-Fi networks, which are based on the IEEE-802.11 family of standards, are becoming increasingly ubiquitous. In a typical Wi-Fi network, an end-user station can move freely within the range of an access point's (AP's) radio transceiver while maintaining high-speed data connectivity.
In a large-scale network, such as an enterprise or campus network, provisioning such a Wi-Fi network is non-trivial. One challenge is how to cover a large area with multiple APs, while providing a user with the experience that when he changes his location he remains within the same Wi-Fi network, and his device continues to communicate with the same AP. Typically, end-user stations tend to be “sticky.” That is, a station is unlikely to change the physical AP it communicates with unless it is absolutely necessary, due to the handover overhead (such as disruption to communication). Also, APs have more transmission power than stations. Hence, a station might “hear” an AP loud and clear, but the AP might not be able to receive reliably signals transmitted by the station.
Currently, to facilitate a large-scale Wi-Fi network that uses multiple APs, a centralized switch and management station is used to coordinate all the APs. This centralized approach is costly, requires a significant amount of configuration, and presents a single point of failure in the network.